Pediatric Inflatable Bouncer-Related Injuries Up in U.S.

Number of annual injuries and rate more than doubled from 2008 to 2010

MONDAY, Nov. 26 (HealthDay News) -- In recent years, the number and rate of inflatable bouncer-related injuries in children have increased rapidly in the United States, according to a study published online Nov. 26 in Pediatrics.

Meghan C. Thompson, from the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and colleagues analyzed records from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System to examine inflatable bouncer-related injuries in children in the United States.

For the period from 1990 to 2010, the researchers identified an estimated 64,657 children aged 17 or younger with inflatable bounce-related injuries who were treated in U.S. emergency departments. There was a significant 15-fold increase in the number and rate of injuries from 1995 to 2010, with an average annual rate of 5.28 injuries per 100,000 U.S. children. In recent years the increase was more rapid, with the number of annual injuries and rate more than doubling from 2008 to 2010. Thirty-one children per day were treated in U.S. emergency departments in 2010 for an inflatable bouncer-related injury. The mean patient age was 7.5 years and most patients were male (54.6 percent). The most common injuries were fractures (27.5 percent) and sprains or strains (27.3 percent), mainly occurring to the upper (29.7 percent) and lower (32.9 percent) extremities. Most of the injuries occurred at a place of recreation/sports or at home (43.7 and 37.5 percent, respectively).

"The number and rate of pediatric inflatable bouncer-related injuries have increased rapidly in recent years," the authors write. "This increase, along with similarities to trampoline-related injuries, underscores the need for guidelines for safer bouncer usage and improvements in bouncer design to prevent these injuries among children."